How To Stay On Track During The Holidays
How To Stay On Track During The Holidays
The question I get asked the most is how to navigate through the holidays and not completely fall off the deep end and have to “start over” in January. Here are my tips to navigate all the holiday parties, eating, and getting through without guilt, without feeling deprived, and finishing this year feeling still aligned with your goals.
Prioritize your parties. Don’t forget it’s ok to say no and rest but if socializing and community and family is what you crave, remember you can make it about the people not the food. Make it about bonding, catching up, meeting new people, more than focusing entirely on the food.
Plan ahead. Ever since I started my health journey I have been bringing my own dish for years. Bringing your own dish is a sure way to know there will be a healthy option. Another tip I always do is I have some protein powder and almond milk before I go to an event so that I’m not going starving and my blood sugar is more normalized going into the event or dinner.
Get creative! I absolutely love and get excited about finding regular holiday dishes and twisting the recipe to make it healthy. The internet is full of keto, paleo, vegan, gluten free recipes of all your fav dishes and they still taste amazing if not even better! Also with any recipe you can swap out ingredients. Swap out sugar for coconut sugar, rice for cauliflower rice, and so on. It ends up being fun to bring a dish that everyone finds delicious but you feel great eating it as well as surprising everyone that a yummy dish can still be healthy!
Intermittent Fasting and Digestion. If I know I’m going to eat a ton later in the day I intermittent fast for 12-14 hours before. This isn’t to starve yourself but to set your body up to consume more calories in a shorter time slot as well as set your blood sugar and digestion up. I also always have digestive enzymes/ bitters on hand and I love me some mint tea after my meals to digest and de-bloat.
It’s ok to politely decline. I have felt it tons of times…the guilt of eating everything served. You can say “I’m not doing dairy right now but thank you it looks delicious ” and politely decline. Prioritize your health and also how you will feel. It’s time to eliminate the guilt! Most of the time people want you to indulge with them so they can feel less guilty.
Watch the drinks! Egg nog, cocktails, etc can be super sneaky ways to pack on the calories and raise the blood sugar. So be aware and choose nutrient dense foods first and just stay mindful of the drinks your consuming. Make or find cleaner low sugar drinks. Also taking activated charcoal and milk thistle to counter balance the alcohol.
Indulging for one day or one night doesn’t have to equal you indulging for a month. You have the choice to wake up the next day and start again without deciding to say “F this I’m going to wait until the New Year”
Allow yourself to indulge, once again remove the guilt, and then choose to start again and refuel your body.
Lastly – move your body! Nothing helping hormones, cortisol levels, happiness, and digestion more then just moving your body. This doesn’t have to mean an intense workout either. Go for a 20 min or longer walk, do a 15 min at home workout, do some yoga. Anything. Just move your body.
Enjoy the holidays! Have fun! Find balance in your body! Stay mindful! Remember that you have the choice and to stay mindful of what makes you feel good!
Happy Holidays! ❤️